ghostharasser | Open Post

...They sent you kids to me so you wouldn't have to worry about it. You know that, right?

[Dipper's pretty smart. He knows what was going on with his parents, so surely he figured this part out.]

Besides, what were you gonna do? Be a tiny marriage counselor? Whatever they were going through, none of that was on you.

[Then Dipper lets out the rest and Stan sighs.]

Yeah...you did butt in a lot, huh? [The choice of words is rough, but only Stan could make them sound weirdly affectionate.] That was different though. We spent so long apart that, well. We kinda had to figure out how to fight like normal people again? I mean, as far as I know your parents didn't spend basically over forty years not talking to each other and no one chucked anyone through a portal.

[Dipper isn't imagining the tension there. Some of it was fear from both sides that they were going to screw things up again. It all fell apart easily enough the first time, so they had to learn how to trust each other. They had to work through some things and really show they were going to be there for each other, no matter what.]

People fight. You're probably gonna hear us fight again. Heck, you and me are prolly gonna fight again. But that doesn't mean any of us are going anywhere.

[God its like. Years of tension and anxiety that had always been misplaced are getting some kind of closure. While it will take a miracle for Dipper to really put aside that part of himself that feels all this misplaced responsibility, being told out right that it was okay if these things didn't fall to him is actually something he needed to hear.]

[It is hard to swallow, but he needed it either way.]

It's scary ...not knowing if one of these fights is going to be the final straw. I guess I couldn't deal with even just the thought that something might tear us apart.
I know you said I shouldn't worry about stuff like that but it's like, literally impossible not for me to be on high alert basically all the time.

[He sighs, Stan puts it all very bluntly, but thats fine because that means Dipper's finally caught onto the root of the issue. He's quiet a moment.]

I guess ...I really didn't learn much about trust after all.

[It's not that Stan's never been anxious. He's had to be on high alert before, and there have even been points where that high alert feeling was on all the time - like that shitty October in Deerington. But he's pretty sure that's different, and it's different in a way he kind of gets from a distance.]

You know who you really oughta talk to about that part? Ford. The guy's a tangled-up bundle of nerves and trust issues and he's been overthinking since the day we were born, but...

[Stan pauses, a little flustered to admit this part so candidly. He kind of rushes through it--]

...well, he's come a long way, alright? So he might know a thing or two about it.

[HIS BROTHER FINALLY TRUSTS HIM AGAIN AND HE'S NOT GOING TO GET EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT, OKAY?]

A-Anyway! There's a difference between worrying about something and having to actually do something about it. You can just...I dunno. [An awkward beat. None of them are great at this part, but...] ...talk to us? Probably?

[Well, Stan isn't really wrong there, is he? Dipper ...kind of knows already, considering what he wrote at the end of the journals. Ford did a whole lot of praising of him, too, that made him even more worried about admitting all of this because what if that affected how proud Ford was of him...?]

[Perhaps it is better in the end, to feel some manner of equalization in all of this. Dipper has long since held Ford on the pedestal he used to, but at the same time, maybe it's okay for Dipper to not try and act like he has to embody so much of what people praise in him to the point it starts wearing him down.]

[However, any comment he might have had about that kind of grounds to a halt.]

...Really? Grunkle Stan, are you really suggesting we just talk stuff out like a functional family? Okay, so like, you're definitely a pod-person right now, right?

[Look.]

[Stan bristles at that call out and crosses his arms.]

Can it or this "pod-person" is gonna come over there and affectionately noogie you until all the extra worrying starts coming outta your ears!

[He probably won't - not when Dipper's sore and wobbly as it is - but he's still going to bluff.]

[Stan reacts and Dipper starts to laugh.]

[A nice far cry from earlier when he was crying and stressed and tearing himself to pieces over an enormous amount of anxiety and worrying.]

Haha, no way, you'll have to catch me first.

[Which is also a bluff because they both know Dipper's barely been able to walk since he came back. He settles down a little, picking up his sandwich.]

...Thanks, though. That actually means a lot to me.

[It's good to hear Dipper laugh after everything, and soon enough Stan's laughing right along with him.]

No problem, kid. You're gonna be fine.

[That might be reassurance for himself as much as it is for Dipper, but he sounds pretty confident about it - enough to go back to eating his own sandwich.

...That is, after he spends ten seconds reheating it with his hands. It's been a minute, okay?]

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